Review: NZTrio celebrates its independence with style and pride

There was an air of celebration about on Sunday, as NZTrio celebrated its independence after years under the wing of Auckland University's cumbersomely titled National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries.

The programme was essentially what will become the group's third CD some time in the new year; two local commissions flanked by Mozart and Ravel, with Arvo Part's Mozart-Adagio still as entrancing as it was on its two previous airings from the group.

Mozart's B flat Trio K 502 launched the evening and one sensed nervousness when Sarah Watkins tripped on a chromatic run in the opening allegro. Nevertheless, the musicians fashioned civilised, elegant conversations from the wealth of melodies the composer had given them.

Only in the larghetto did one feel the need for more buoyancy in its phrases, more grace in its cadences and sometimes more warmth from Justine Cormack's violin.

At the other end of the evening, Ravel's Trio took the audience by storm. This was stylish playing, with the Pantoum flitting and flickering like a Ravelian butterfly and the Passacaille suitably dark and mysterious with the burnished tone of Cormack and Ashley Brown's strings.

I Wayan Gde Yudane's Entering the Stream and Eve de Castro-Robinson's At Water's Birth, two earlier NZTrio commissions, were delivered with the pride of musicians who had played a part in their gestation.

While the rippling textures and gamelan sonorities of Yudane's water piece drew one into deeper philosophical territory, de Castro-Robinson was more playful and perhaps even devious with her sonic alchemy. There was a noirish atmosphere when whistling was called for, and the ooze of jazzy harmonies under the spoken Sshh, Archipelago seemed deliciously appropriate.

With the musical side coming along very nicely indeed, and the group nattily attired in Helen Talbot designer garments, the time has now come to improve programme booklets.

Alas, all the slick layout in the world cannot atone for plagiarised generalities and illiteracy.

A paragraph on Mozart was taken, without credit, from a record company website and gaffes such as "Part's truly unique blend" and Ravel's "palate of incredible colours" were simply cringe-making.

PERFORMANCE

What: NZTrio.
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Concert Chamber.